The Cartographers’ Guild is a forum created by and for map makers and aficionados, a place where every aspect of cartography can be admired, examined, learned, and discussed. Our membership consists of professional designers and artists, hobbyists, and amateurs—all are welcome to join and participate in the quest for cartographic skill and knowledge.

Although we specialize in maps of fictional realms, as commonly used in both novels and games (both tabletop and role-playing), many Guild members are also proficient in historical and contemporary maps. Likewise, we specialize in computer-assisted cartography (such as with GIMP, Adobe apps, Campaign Cartographer, Dundjinni, etc.), although many members here also have interest in maps drafted by hand.

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The first map took me like 4 hours. The last one about 12 minutes. You'll really pick up speed once you start identifying the steps that can be done as shortcuts. On CC3 for instance, I didn't realize the arrow keys snapped a symbol to 0, 90, 180, and 270, for instance. I'd just been control-shifting, or typing it in. It's definitely a way to really dig into your mapping app(s) of choice. As slow as CC3 renders with effects on, I use it for the map export and do everything else in Photoshop.

Yeah, the second style is way better IMO. I enjoyed switching styles at various places in KOTS -- I'm planning out Pyramid in advance as far as what sections will have their own look.

What are you mapping in? One of the things I'm going to do before starting Pyramid is build a custom symbol catalog that has the few dozen symbols that I use all the time. A good 20% of my mapping time was spent doing catalog juggling, or trying to remember what symbols were where. A few hours spent up-front will make production way easier I think.

Those are looking great.

edit: I would recommend changing the byline to say "based on a map by" instead of "by". When I looked at one of the maps I thought "Hey, that's Mike doing the map!" for a second.